In the field of telecommunications, the current trend is towards the replacement of certain coaxial electrical links between electronic equipments by optical links obtained by means of optical fibers placed in an appropriate sheath and interconnecting one or more sources emitting light and one or more photosensors.
The current trend is also towards the utilization of monomode fibers, which exhibit a diameter of approximately ten microns.
In order to effect the mounting of a fiber on a substrate and its optical coupling with an optoelectronic component or photosensor, whether or not via waveguide, various solutions are currently known.
A first solution consists in applying the end portion of the optical fiber onto the front face of the substrate and in retaining it by means of an auxiliary plate which exhibits a V-shaped groove in which this end portion extends.
In a known variant, the end face of the optical fiber is, prior to its mounting, beveled, this beveled end face deflecting the optical wave towards an optoelectronic component. In another known variant, the end face of the optical fiber is coupled axially to a waveguide formed on the substrate.
Another known solution consists in fixing the end of the optical fiber perpendicularly to the substrate, directly on an optoelectronic component or facing such a component through the substrate.
The principal disadvantages of the known solutions reside in the bulkiness of the devices obtained, in the difficulty of disposing in the desired position the optical fiber which exhibits a specified configuration prior to its mounting and in the addition of auxiliary parts for the fixing of the optical fiber.